James Kahiga Chege is the founder of Capri Farm in Nyandarua County where he rears over 150 South African Dorper sheep.
In an interview with LNN Network, the farmer disclosed that he moved to Nyandarua in 2020 after relocating from San Francisco, California.
Chege disclosed that he worked in Wall Street for 14 years, but quit and moved back to Kenya to pursue his dream of becoming a farmer.
While Dorper sheep were his designed breed to keep, he noted that he started his farm with five sheep which he bought from Kajiado.
At the time, Chege was living in Ndakaini, Murang’a, but later moved to Nyandarua where he acquired a 3/4 an acre, and put up structures for his sheep.
“I used studies done by Michigan State University and Oklahoma State University to do the spacing of the sheep; where they state that each animal requires 40 square feet of space,” he explained.
Over the years, Capri Farm has experienced substantial growth, currently maintaining a flock of 150 purebred and crossbred Dorper sheep.
Chege noted that the farm employs a zero-grazing system, providing the sheep with a diet consisting of maize silage produced on the farm.
The sheep are also fed with concentrates specifically formulated to meet their nutritional requirements.
This method not only promotes the animals’ health and growth but also highlights Kahiga’s ingenuity in efficiently managing costs and resources.
“Initially we were doing hay, but then we noticed, out of 150 animals, we were getting only six wheelbarrows of droppings per day which told us majority of that stuff was going through the animal so we decided to transition to silage,” he explained.
Dorper sheep farming in Kenya is gaining traction due to the breed’s adaptability, fast growth rate, and high-quality meat.
The Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organisation has introduced feedlot technology to enhance productivity, allowing farmers to fatten Dorper sheep in just 6.5 months instead of three years.
Notably, farmers like Kahiga emphasize training and sustainable practices, such as producing silage to reduce feed costs.